Honour for an ageless actress

The Centre for Values in Leadership (CVL) has held its 23rd Leader Without Title (LWT) leadership tribute colloquium in honour of renowned actress Mrs Taiwo Ajai-Lycett. It was held at the CVL building on Victoria Island, Lagos, last Tuesday, OLATUNDE ODEBIYI writes.

Eminent actress Mrs Taiwo Ajai-Lycett stood tall as she was honoured by the Centre for Values in Leadership (CVL) for her contributions to the growth of entertainment.

Mrs Ajai-Lycett turned 70 on February 3; she was celebrated in line with CVL tradition last Tuesday. The theme was Music, Culture and National Image: New Ways of Projecting Power. CVL initiated the Leadership Tribute Colloquium to honour outstanding leaders who are over 70 for their special contributions in the sector where they worked.

CVL founder and host, Prof Pat Utomi described the celebrator as a vibrant, brave, gracious, truly committed, passionate and a woman who believes that her world defines the world.

He added that she is someone to be emulated adding that she is hard working and focused on delivering value.

Mrs Joke Silva who is a renowned actress said the celebrator is one of those incredible, articulate and intellectual artistes. She described her as an amazing performer and a true entertainer that is dedicated and that she is proud of her.

She stressed the need to keep engaging government on the needs of the industry adding that those in the industry should acquire more knowledge and ensure content in what they are doing.

Mrs Ajai-Lycett said life has just started at 74 saying she feels elated and honoured to have the wonderful gathering. She noted that it is special to be honoured for what she has been doing for almost a life time.

“This tells me that people appreciate what I have been doing; I can see that people have so much affection and they give me recognition. I think it is wonderful and I am on top of the world. I thank everybody for coming as you can see it is a full house in spite of the national crises. So many people turned out and I was surprised, I was stunned,” she added.

She urged upcoming artistes in the entertainment industry to ensure hard work and continue to work on themselves all the time. “I wake up every day in the morning as an actor even at 74, I am still working. I have to do all my practices and I have to make sure that my acting skills are sharp, my body is flexible, my voice is clear and I have to work.

“So it is constantly working on yourself so that your audience and the people you meet are always getting the best from you. It is important to respect the people you work for and give them the best that you can,” she said.

She stressed that government must create an enabling environment for culture to arise and it must be educated in the arts and appreciate it. “They must have an understanding of what the art can do to help them govern this nation even better.

She urged actors in the country to celebrate and be proud of themselves adding that ‘our own people can be as good as anyone in the world.’

“All we need to do is to have a bit more confidence in ourselves and don’t think that anything we have from abroad is better than what we have here; our culture is number one in the world and am proud to tell you that.

“There is a big gap between acting in my younger days and now because in that time we were well trained but now everybody thinks they can act and they don’t think you can learn to act, they think they have talent, yes you have to have talent but talent has to be polished.

“Acting till today is easy for me because I have acted all my life and I improve on myself every year. I am working on myself and it is getting easier and clearer,” she said.